Mr Cartwright
by TRUMAN'S SHELL
Summary: Miss Jones' mother is sick so the town asks Adam to fill in as the town's teacher. To put it mildly the twins aren't happy. Warning: Spanking


**To my friend and beta ****itsmecoon** **congrats on your son's graduation from high school. Sorry this is a day late, but Jax and Joe were not being cooperative the past few days (not that that's a surprise to anyone). No beta for this one so please forgive me for all of the mistakes. **

"Why does it have to be Adam?" Joe whined as they were riding to school.

"Maybe it won't be that bad," Jax said smiling at her twelve year old twin.

"Jax, it's Adam and he's going to be our teacher for three whole weeks. Going to school with Miss Jones is bad enough, but with Adam as our teacher, school is going to be unbearable. What if he tans us in front of the whole school?"

"What if he tans Dennis Ryley? You know he's still mad about him daring me to jump off the cliff," Jax countered smiling evilly.

"Now that would be great," Joe said flashing her his million dollar smile.

"I don't see Adam tanning us at school unless we're really bad," Jax reasoned.

"Jax, it's school, we're never good at school. Well not good enough for Adam's liking. Miss Jones is used to it and tends to ignore our little misdeeds. If she didn't I swear she'd have writer's cramp from all of the notes she'd have to send Pa," Joe teased.

"It's only for a couple of weeks and if he's too bad we'll do something about it," Jax said with a shrug.

"What?"

"Not sure yet, we'll have to see how bad he is, then make a decision."

**XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO **

Adam honestly didn't know what he was thinking telling the school board that he would teach while Miss Jones was in California taking care of her sick mother. Sure he had the knowledge and had taught a few college classes when he lived in Boston, but to deal with a class full of Jax and Joes, he honestly had no idea how he was going to do it. When his brother and sister didn't listen to him he would just tan their hides. He didn't know if he would spank a child in front of the class or not, the humiliation for that child would be worse than the spanking. Adam wasn't big on humiliation, just discipline. He also bet if he did have to tan someone's hide it was going to be Jax or Joe's and he didn't think he could humiliate them like that.

The only thing he was happy about was the fact that he would finally get to see Jax and Joe at school. Sure their grades were always up to par, but he knew both could do better and knew they fooled around more than they really should. Maybe during his brief stay he could nip that in the bud. One thing he knew for sure was that they were not going to sit next to each other while he was here no matter how much they argued or pouted.

Adam walked over to the board and wrote the assignments Miss Jones had left for her students so they could begin the second they walked into the door. He put the math problems up for each grade level and decided that he would start with the primary classes first, there was no way he was going to start his day off with his sister and brother's class.

The time for school to start came way to fast in Adam's opinion. It was strange to be standing at the front of the classroom and not waiting outside for his brother and sister. The second the students walked into the schoolhouse whispering was heard all around. 'What happened to Miss Jones? Was she sick? Usually when she was sick school was cancelled, so why was Adam Cartwright standing there? Was he their new teacher?'

"If you would please take your seats, I will be more than happy to answer your questions," Adam said. He watched as everyone took a seat and said quickly, "Jax, Joe, don't even think about sitting next to each other."

"Adam," Jax whined but stopped at Adam's glare, allowing Adam to say,

"It's Mr. Cartwright here, Jacqueline."

"Mr. Cartwright? You've got to be joshing me," Joe said before whispering to Billy, "Give the man a little power and it goes straight to his head."

"I'm not joshing, Joseph and if you have anything else to share with the class please do so."

"No I'm fine, Mr. Cartwright," Joe said trying everything in his power not to roll his eyes, but wasn't able to manage it.

Adam shook his head and debated about moving Joe away from Billy, but he was sure he would have a mutiny on his hands if he moved his little brother again. He knew both of his siblings were unhappy about him being there and he honestly understood why they felt that way, it wasn't going to be easy on them. Heck it wasn't going to be easy on any of them when Adam really thought about it. He needed to remember that he was their teacher not their brother, but had a feeling that it was going to almost impossible.

Within the first five minutes Joe received his first note from his sister.

_Wow this is going to his head._

Joe smiled and sent back.

_I said the same thing to Billy. I told you this was going to be horrible._

_Well, if the only thing he does is make us sit away from each other and call him Mr. Cartwright, it won't be too bad._

_I bet you a week's worth of chores that it is going to be that bad._

_As long as you don't cause the problems, I'll take that bet. I'm bored, you and Billy want to play hangman?_

Joe drew a hangman before sending it back over to his sister. For the next hour they played hangman and tic-tac-toe while Adam taught the younger grades, forgetting all about doing the work Adam had put on the board.

"Fourth and Fifth grade, give me another fifteen minutes please and I'll look over your math assignments."

"_Did you get anything done?" _Jax wrote. Joe shook his head before whispering,

"Billy?"

"No, I've been playing just like you."

Joe shook his head again indicating that Billy hadn't started either.

"_Alright, I'll do 1-10, Joe 11-20, Billy 21-30. Be quick or we'll never hear the end of it_," Jax wrote.

Fifteen minutes seemed like seconds but the three finished their little scheme just in time. Adam checked their work before he taught them the next lesson. Jax, Joe, and Billy were going back to their seats when Adam stopped them saying,

"I hoped you enjoyed your morning playing games, because you'll be redoing that assignment on your own tonight for homework."

"What are you talking about?" Jax asked.

"Cheating, Jacqueline. I know for a fact that you just finished that assignment and each of you took a part so that you could finish."

"Mr. Cartwright, we didn't do anything," Joe argued.

"You're right, Joseph, you didn't do anything all morning and you know it. If I wasn't busy with the younger students I would've taken care of it earlier, but I thought you had enough respect for me to at least do your own work and I swear if the three of you lie to me right now I'm going to turn you over my knee," Adam said angrily, not caring that they were in front of the entire class.

"So we played around a little, but we worked too," Joe said.

"You cheated."

"It really isn't cheating, because we got all our parts right, right?" Jax tried.

"When you don't do your own work it's called cheating and you know it. If you were bored because the work was too easy I would've given you something harder," Adam said.

Billy stood there knowing to leave the argument to the twins. He knew they knew how to handle Adam and didn't want to make thing worse than they already were.

"It's not that it was too easy, but we did a lot of those problems last night, remember?" Joe said.

Adam did remember because they both came down and asked him questions. He showed them a trick to solve the problems faster and to know how to make sure they got them all right.

"We showed Billy this morning, so we figured that since we understood the assignment and we really didn't need to have that much practice," Jax said logically.

As always Adam hated that Jax had a point.

"It doesn't matter Jacqueline. The assignment was on the board and you were supposed to do it on your own."

"Yes sir," the three said looking down wondering if doing the assignment again was their only punishment. Jax and Joe knew it wasn't and weren't surprised when Adam said,

"During recess you will write 200 times 'I will not cheat'."

"But Adam…" Jax tried.

"Mr. Cartwright and do you want to make it 400?" Adam asked.

"No sir," the three said.

"You will not start your punishment until I ring the bell for recess and if I have to talk to the three of you again, I'll write your parents."

"So you're going to write Pa all the way in Sacramento, man that sounds like a waste of time," Joe said getting a laugh out of the rest of the class.

"No Joseph, I'm more than capable of taking you out to the barn tonight and trust me little brother, if I have to say another word to you or your sister that will become a reality."

"Guess we won't have to listen to any more of his boring lecture, because that would be talking to us right?" Jax whispered, making Billy laugh.

"Something funny William?" Adam asked.

"No sir."

"Go back to your seats," Adam said shaking his head. He was positive that his little sister said some smart remark that he missed. Those three were going to drive him crazy.

The rest of the day went without a problem. Jax and Joe knew better than to push Adam any farther. The second the bell rang they jumped out of their seats and started running for the door but Adam stopped them in their tracks saying,

"Jax, Joe, you can wait for me tonight."

"Adam, we have chores and we wanted to meet Billy at the lake. You said we could last night," Jax argued the second the room was clear of students.

"You have chores here tonight as well," Adam said knowing his brother and sister were going to start arguing.

"Why?" Jax said.

"Because you weren't on your best behavior and I want to set an example tonight or we're going to have problems the entire time I'm here," Adam said handing each of them an eraser.

"This was the best we've ever been at school," Joe argued getting pushed by his sister.

"Really? Then maybe you'll have to stay after every day so that pattern will change."

"Adam," they both whined.

"Get to work," Adam said sitting down at the desk to start grading papers.

**XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO **

The next two weeks went about the same way. Adam caught them doing little things wrong and he took away their free time during and after school.

"I can't take it anymore," Joe said sitting on the roof after a particularly hard day.

Adam had caught them passing notes and had made them stand in the corner for a half an hour before adding a thousand word essay for homework. When they argued he said that if they liked writing so much they might as well write something educational. The second round of arguing earned them a swat in front of the entire class.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Jax asked feeling the same way. She also knew Adam was making Billy's life miserable. The only thing Billy didn't have to do was wait for Adam to finish grading. Adam figured by keeping his friends at school he was punishing Billy too.

"Make him want to quit."

"We'll quit before Adam does. You know he never quits," Jax whined.

"Ok so we prank him," Joe said giving his sister a wicked smile.

"How?"

"I don't know but it better be one of the greatest pranks ever because if we're caught, he'll literally kill us," Joe said giving her a devilish smile.

"Billy wants a piece of Adam as much as we do, so we should let him get involved."

"That means sneaking out tomorrow."

"Not a problem," Jax said smiling brightly. "Think all night about what we can do and I'll do the same."

Billy was standing in front of the school looking miserable.

"What's wrong?" Jax asked.

"Adam ran into Pa last night and he asked how I was being in class and he told him about the notes yesterday."

"What happened?" Joe asked hoping his friend didn't get a tanning because of his brother.

"I'm restricted to his office for two weeks. I hate sitting in his office. How many more days until Miss Jones gets back?"

"Five, but Adam isn't going to enjoy his last five days. I promise you that," Jax vowed. She couldn't believe Adam was so mean. He punished Billy with the essay there was no reason why he had tell his father about it.

"What are we going to do?" Billy asked a little apprehensive. His father had promised a tanning if he heard another bad word from Adam.

"We have to…" Joe was interrupted when his brother rang the bell for school to begin.

"Since, he'll find a reason to take away our recess, let's meet on the edge of town at midnight," Jax said.

"Jax, Joe, Billy, let's go," Adam called from the doorway shaking his head. He had no idea how Miss Jones did this every day. He knew he was being hard on his siblings and their best friend, but they made it almost impossible not to. Miss Jones had to be letting them get away with things or he swore the woman would have writer's cramp and the twins wouldn't remember what sitting in comfort was like.

Adam was surprised at how good the trio were that day. He didn't have to say a word to them and he didn't see one note passed. Maybe he was getting through to them. He honestly felt bad about talking to Billy's father the night before, but he wasn't lying for the kid and he hoped that if he asked Miss Jones a direct question, he would get an honest answer.

The second school was over Jax and Joe got up slowly, they knew Adam would find some reason to keep them after even though they tried everything in their power to stay out of trouble. Jax sent a note at the beginning of the day saying they needed to lull Adam into a false sense of security or the prank would never work. Joe and Billy agreed so they were on their best behavior.

"Jax, Joe," Adam said and felt bad when he heard the sigh of disappointment that came from both of them.

"Yes sir," Jax said turning around and looking miserable.

"I just wanted to thank you for being so good today," Adam said giving them a smile.

They both were still too angry about the past two weeks to care about the compliment, so they just stood there.

"I'll see you at home," Adam said hoping that would get a smile out of them.

"We better go before he changes his mind," Joe said just loud enough for Adam to hear.

Adam sighed. He longed for this to be over so he could go back to just being their brother. He was happy that they hadn't forced him to turn them over his knee, but the little things sure were adding up and he had promised himself that if they didn't knock off the goofing around and note writing today, their backsides were going to be sore at supper tonight. Not that supper had been a fun experience the entire time he was teaching. The twins were barely talked to him and because of their misdeeds they usually had a ton of homework to finish so they were in their rooms soon after. Well he only had four more days to go and he hoped those days flew by.

Adam rode into the yard and saw Hoss working on the fence.

"Twins get home ok?"

"Yep, you sure aren't their favorite person right now," Hoss said giving his brother a smile.

"Yeah, I haven't been too easy on them. I'm betting they can't wait for Miss Jones to get back. Honestly, Friday won't get here fast enough for me."

"Awe it can't be that bad."

"They're at the point of hating me, Hoss," Adam said honestly. "They say about three words to me a night."

"They're just mad because they can't get away with stuff. They'll get over it."

"How many weeks until we're even?" Adam asked giving his brother a smile.

"You haven't tanned them, so if you keep it from Pa they should forgive you in a couple of days."

"You know what stinks about this whole thing."

"What?"

"They're the ones who are wrong and I'm the one who feels guilty."

"No, you're just a big softy at heart," Hoss said slapping his brother on the back.

"Yeah, right."

**XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO **

"Operation get Adam back is in effect," Jax said the second they saw Billy.

"So what are we doing?"

"Breaking into the school and letting him have a new group of students to teach," Joe said smiling.

"If we're done before school there's no way he can prove that we did it," Jax added.

"I hope so, my Pa will tan me good if I get into any more trouble with Adam."

"Don't you mean Mr. Cartwright," Jax said smiling.

**XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO **

Adam walked to the school door and opened the door to pandemonium. Instead of an empty classroom full of desks, there were five chickens, three pigs, and a calf wandering around like they didn't have a care in the world. Adam walked back outside deciding to leave the animals where they were for a few minutes. He wanted to find the classroom furniture so he walked around the back of the building and saw the desks sprawled across the back of the schoolyard.

Adam decided the first step was to get the farm animals out of the schoolhouse. He was able to get the calf out with a little coaxing, the pigs and chickens were another story altogether. Whoever put the pigs into the classroom greased them first. He wrestled the first one to the ground and was awarded with applause from his students.

Adam was beyond furious. He knew Jax and Joe were behind this and Adam swore the second he got his hands on them, he was going to spank them until they begged for mercy and that mercy wouldn't come until he was sure they wouldn't be able to sit until their father got back. He also planned on letting his father know about this little maneuver and he was sure his father's punishment was going to dwarf his.

"Jacob, will you and Tyler please get the rest of the animals out of the classroom," Adam said striding towards his siblings. He landed a hard swat on each of their backsides and said, "Go home now."

"Adam…" Jax tried. She had never seen him so angry.

"Jacqueline, get out of my sight," Adam snapped walking back towards the classroom.

Jax shook her head yes and was on her horse a second later followed closely.

"He's gonna kill us," Joe said his voice shaking.

"Like I didn't know that, but did you see how upset he was. It was like we hurt him with this prank," Jax said worrying her bottom lip.

"He'll be ok, well once he turns our hides into mincemeat," Joe said giving her a smile.

"I hope so, I didn't want to hurt Adam's feeling."

"We didn't hurt Adam's feeling," Joe argued.

"I think we did," Jax said honestly.

"Why? We just put some animals in the classroom," Joe said.

"But, it was his classroom. We never would've done it to Miss Jones."

"Because Pa would kill us."

"It's more than that, we wouldn't disrespect her like that."

"I didn't think of it that way," Joe said feeling guilty at that point.

"Come on let's go wait inside. Adam will be here to kill us before we know it."

Adam decided to close down the school until Miss Jones came back. It would take at least that long for the school to be cleaned up and his little brother and sister would be there alongside their coconspirator. He had a feeling that Billy was going to confess his sins tonight. The one thing he loved about Billy was the kid always told the truth and when his father asked him later today if he was involved the kid would fess up. He was glad he had the ride home to calm down, because he sure didn't want to wait once he got home. His little brother and sister were going to feel the sting of his belt the second he walked in the door.

Jax and Joe hated waiting and the guilt they were feeling didn't make the wait any less excruciating. They jumped when they heard the door open and sighed when they saw it was just Hoss.

"Adam sent ya home?" Hoss asked looking puzzled.

"We kinda did something stupid," Jax admitted.

"What did you do?"

"We sorta filled the class with barn animals," Joe said.

"Why would you do that?"

"We were mad at Adam. He's been really mean to us," Jax whined.

"Because you weren't doing what you were supposed to and you know it."

Jax and Joe both nodded their heads yes.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Joe asked.

"Tan ya good and he's gonna tell Pa too, so don't count on sitting anytime soon," Hoss warned.

"That much is true," Adam said hearing the end of the conversation. "Jax, upstairs, Joe outside."

"Adam…" Jax tried but stopped at the murderous look her brother shot her. She had never seen Adam this angry in her life.

Joe reluctantly followed his brother out to the barn.

"I'm asking you once and I better get the truth. Did you put those animals in the classroom?"

"Yes sir. We thought it would be funny."

"Well, it wasn't," Adam said taking off his belt. "Lose your pants and shorts little boy because your bare butt is going to get it good."

Joe followed his brother's orders and forced himself across his knee. He wished his brother would give him a break tonight, but knew Adam was starting with the belt and ending the exact same way. His fears were confirmed the second he felt the fiery pain of leather hitting flesh. Adam's belt fell over and over making Joe's butt turn redder and redder. Adam tilted his little brother forward so he could attack his sit spots and that's when Joe started begging,

"Adam…I'm…sorry…"

"I'm betting you're sorry now. Three more and we're done here."

Adam finished up and pulled his little brother into a hug. The second Joe was finished crying he said,

"I'm really sorry Adam. Do you have to tell Pa?"

"I know you're sorry, Little Joe, but this was big kiddo and Pa's going to know what happed."

"But you tanned me already."

"How about we make a deal?"

"Think it'll save me from another whipping?" Joe asked with hope.

"No, but it might make so you won't be restricted to your room for another week."

"Wait, I'm restricted to my room this week."

"Yes and trust me I'll tell Pa how hard I spanked you and how long you were restricted, what I won't tell him is everything the two of you did wrong at school up until today," Adam said.

"I guess that's fair," Joe sighed. "Hey Adam, don't use your belt on Jax the whole time she's a girl and all."

"Dare you to say that to her face," Adam said giving his little brother a smile.

"Nope, she'd break my nose. I don't need my face throbbing along with my butt. So are you going to give her a break?"

"No, her punishment is the same as yours. Why don't you go and send her down?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yep. Hey Little Joe…"

"Yeah."

"Love ya little brother."

Joe just ran back over and gave his older brother a hug before saying,

"You too."

Jax walked down five minutes later. She knew she deserved this spanking even though there is no way she wanted to face her brother or his belt.

"Petticoats and pantaloons," was all Adam said.

He thought about what Joe said, but stuck to his guns using his belt to turn his little sister's bottom a dark cherry red. Jax begged and pleaded for him to stop but Adam hardened his heart until he reached the same number of swats he gave his brother. They were in it together through thick and thin and Adam was going to be sure to keep that bargain be it with hugs or swats. The second he was finished he pulled her into his strong arms and held her while she cried. The second she was finished crying she turned her deep brown eye up and said,

"I'm sorry."

"I know kiddo, but it's not going to save you from Pa."

"I mean I'm sorry if our prank hurt your feelings."

Adam pulled her into a strong hug.

"How'd you know?"

"Your eyes told me. Sure you had fire in them that told me that sitting was going to be a thing of the past, but I also saw that you were hurt by what we had done. I mean it was like saying you were only good enough to teach farm animals. Not that that was what we meant by doing it. You really are a good teacher, hard as heck, but a good teacher."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"You're welcome and even though you're still mad at me, can I ask you for a huge favor?"

"Sure sis, don't know if I'll grant it."

"The next time the school board asks you to teach will you please say no."

"Trust that's one wish I'm more than happy to grant."

The End


End file.
